CULMINATING EXPERIENCE PROJECT COMPOSITIONAL JOURNEY IN BERKLEE VALENCIA Juancristobal Aliaga Candidate of Master in Music in Contemporary Performance 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS -Acknowledgments 3 -Background 4 -Introduction of the work 4 -The Aspects 5 -Use of Time Signatures 6 -Process of Creation 8 -Styles 11 -Band Format 14 -Modes 17 -Conclusion 20 2 ACKNOWDLEDGEMENTS: I want to first thank the people who used part of their time recording this tunes with me, those are Ricardo Curto, Piotr Orzechowski, Andrea Fraenzel, Daniel Toledo, Firas Hassan, Mt Aditia Srinivasan, Alex Williams and Mikael Chauvet Jorgensen, if it wasn’t for them this songs wouldn’t be able to be the way they are, to the engineers and helpers that helped with their part, Hugo Caicedo, Tim Shull, Alan Tischk, Yohan Jo, Kareem Clarke, Beth Schofield, Gerami Groover, Joao Soreiro, etc. Also I want to thank Mario Rossy, Enric Alberich and Perico Sambeat for teaching me new musical things on this year, but above all I wanted to thank Victor Mendoza, Israel Sandoval and Polo Ortí, which after this year I don’t consider them as just my teachers, but also friends who help me to forge what I am now, and what I will be as a person and a musician. 3 BACKGROUND I was born in Santiago de Chile in Latin America. Being a son of a well respected musician, and the stepson of an entrepreneur dedicated to the development of museums and tourism, led me to live in a broad cultural world, in where I had access to different intellectual ways of thinking and share amongst people who had radically different points of view, which gave me the liberty to question the information that I received before adopting it. Although music was always in my life, I couldn‘t study it formally until I was nineteen. That was mainly because of the opposition of certain people in my family to do this as a career. Although I had to deal with some disadvantages, mainly because of the “idea“ of starting late, at the end this was an advantage, because I could see the things that I was learning with a more critical point of view helping me to make some conclusions that I wouldn‘t be able to do if I were starting early. That helped me to realize that in western music because of the excess of theorization is seen in a very logical way, resulting in sometimes apply concepts that are sometimes for the sake of showing off rather than make music itself. That results in that we over inform the listeners and with that we avoid to make a real connection with them, taking off the real purpose of this art, which is make an emotional bond between the person listening and the person playing, therefore making noise instead of music. As a way of avoids that, and using the tools that I learned in my formal studies, I wanted to create “Complex” music, with difficult resources, but making it easy to listen to the inexperienced ear. INTRODUCTION OF THE WORK This work hopes to reveal the results that myself as a musician and a composer had in this 3 semesters as a student in this masters program. The results that are going to be shown here were more a product of a group of different circumstances, rather than a established plan. This happened mainly because with so much information in certain fields, my interests were more focused over the existent possibilities of learning, rather that the ideas that I wanted to develop in a first time. To try to be as much open in musical terms, what I did was to play 5 tunes (4 original and one arrangement of standards), each of one is going to be covering one of the aspects showed below, this is because in my opinion those are the main aspects that are involved in my compositions. Those aspects are: Band Format Time Signatures Modes used Process of creation And Style The planning of the work would consist first of all in write and choose the tunes that are going to be placed in the folder, then the tunes are going to be recorded, and 4 shown in a concert or if it is not possible would be an exposition, in where the songs are going to be shown and explain, the criteria for choosing the tunes is totally personal, because in my opinion they clearly show the process that I had here, and try to solve my concerns about certain aspects showed above THE ASPECTS The aspects that I used to classify this work were divided in Band Format, Time Signatures, Modes, and Process of creation and Styles. Here in this part, I’m going to try to explain more profoundly about the reasons that led me to do this 1-Time Signatures: One of the main characteristics of the Mediterranean music is the use of odd time signatures, here I had the opportunity to be exposed to these kind of time signatures and using it in my music. The Idea of those tunes was trying to create easy listening melodies to the western ears using those resources. The idea was to adopt those patterns and try to adapt it to western styles, without thinking in a mathematical way or a pattern-based structure, but also as a way of enhance the melody. When you hear this music, you are going to notice time signature changes, as well as different patterns that help to the development of the melody. 2- Process of Creation: I think that is important to point that aspect, because all the tunes or arrangement were created for a certain reason more than because of the deadline of the thesis itself, I think that this is important to point that out, because I think that show the process of making a work is as important as the work itself 3- Styles: Among with the different things that I had the opportunity to experiment here in my stay in Valencia, the different styles of music that I had the opportunity to play and listen were decisive in the process of creativity and growth as a musician and person, that’s why my compositions were based in different styles, but trying to get an identity of its own 4-Band Format: I decided to use this aspect, because during the year I had the opportunity to interact with different band formats, and composing and playing with them was an amazing opportunity to meet the and also to discover new sounds (for example with more acoustic instruments, Mediterranean percussions, and also with solo instruments). The compositions that I showed here were the ones that in my opinion reflected the best use of those formats. The fact that were more tunes with quartet in this process, it’s because that’s the format that I’m most used to work with. 5-Modes: Although I had compositions in tonal music, passing through different tones during the music pieces, I had to use single microtonal modes, in order to explore the world of the fretless guitar…The arrangements of the standards were doing in order so that the melody and the solos were made using those modes. 5 USE OF TIME SIGNATUREs (Tema Número 2) Tema Número 2 (Intro) bb 5 & b b ™™4 œ™ Bbm7 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ B¨‹7 œ œ b œ œ™ ≈ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ 3 œ œ ™ Œ Œ 4 œ œ™ ≈ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ 7 œ Ó™ & b bb 44 4 4 8J 2 B¨‹7 E¨7 B¨7 ™ œ œ œ œ B7œ œ œ œ B¨7 œ œ ™ œ œ B7œ œ b b 3 &b b 4 6 B¨‹7 ™™ 44 E¨7 œ œ ™ œ œ B7œ œ œ œ 2C7½ œ œ œ œ™ 4 43 B¨7 The Idea It always had got my attention the way that we compose music, and the way that is taught in the western side of the planet. That is because it’s based in a concept of circularity leaded by multiples of four. That means, that to make a proper theme in music, you need o have a call and a response that last at least 4 measures. A good example of it is the song Footprints of Wayne Shorter. This song has a motive of four measures which is has variations twice surrounding it to a twelve bars theme. In other tunes the themes take form 4 to 48 bars to make the song, that get me to make to myself the question of what happen if I do songs with a motive who is not a multiple of four and give the sensation of circularity that we are use to hear in western music, for that I have to use motives that can be easy to sing and teach by rote and use styles that appeal to do that. For that I decided to do a funk song, inspired in the afro beat music starting with a pedal in Bb minor pentatonic, in 5/4 which result in this 6 So the idea was to try to do a theme of 8 measures that doesn’t end in a multiple of four, and give that sense of circularity, for that I used the eighth notes as a subdivision note, instead of the forth, which is used usually to divide music in 4/4 This was the result If you notice this melody to be in a multiple of 4 had to have 32-quarter notes or 64 eighth notes to give the song a cyclical sense, but as you see this song has 25 and a half quarter notes and 51 eighth notes, to help to that sense I did it in a funk style because is a style that is very rhythmical, and allows to make complicated melodies The format used for this song is a quartet, because It was thought for a quintet in the beginning, but because of the lack of members that play tenor sax, it was played as a quartet 7 CHAPTER 2 PROCESS OF CREATION Vince Guaraldi Lead Sheet A q = 180 3 œ™ & ™™4 B¨Œ„Š7 œ ™ & œ œ bœ ™ œ 5 G‹7 9 D¨Œ„Š7 & 1. AŒ„Š7 œ J B 17 A¨Œ„Š7 b˙™ & 21 & 25 bœ J bœ œ J bœ J œ & ˙ #˙ ™ 29 A¨Œ„Š7 & ˙™ ˙™ ˙™ œ J ˙ b˙™ G‹7 ˙™ œ œ J ˙™ œ J ‰ œ A¨‹7 V œ ˙ CŒ„Š7 œ œ ˙ œ J ˙™ D‹7 œ E¨7 ˙ A¨7(#11) bœ œ™ E¨7 2. AŒ„Š7 B¨Œ„Š7 ˙™ bœ ™ œ B¨‹7 œ FŒ„Š7 ˙ bœ œ œ ™™ bœ A¨7(#11) œ J ˙™ EŒ„Š7 bF‹7 ˙™ œ œ ™ & #˙ 13 œ™ œ V™ œ J œ œ™ E‹7 œ™ D¨7 V + 8 The Idea This tune was inspired because I wanted to make a jazz waltz inspired in the cartoon “Peanuts” but with chords that escape from the II-V dynamic that are usually presented in jazz. For that I had to establish a melody that could be easy to remember, and also very easy to have a lot of options of different chords. I used one melodic cell, and I varied it in different ways The motive The A part has 28 measures instead of 32, basically to try to play with the sense of circularity showed above. But the melody helps to not to miss those absent measures. The harmony of the tune was developed in order that the tension wouldn’t be subjected just to the II-V structure, using sub dominant chords as root notes, and dominants, basically, because there is a major range of notes that I can use without them sound as a not permitted note, also using those intermodal changes would change the color, also creating a challenge of making a melody that allow the tensions, but at the same time can be enjoyable and easy to remember 9 Also there is a lot of parallel upper chords on minor and major chords like the example below, that makes a nice effect of movement, that I personally like The format used in this song was a jazz quartet, because it is a very standard and adequate format for the sonority that I wanted to have. In the beginning had two extra voices, but they didn’t sound the way I wanted to. 10 CHAPTER 3 STYLES We’ll figure it out e = 180 5 & ™™8 INTRO 68 ∑ A¨Œ„Š7(#5) A A¨Œ„Š7(#5) œ bœ bœ œ 5 ™ ≈ ™ & 8 3 œ œ 58 bœ bœ œ œ œ œ 68 ˙ ™ 68 œ bœ œ œ bœ œ G¨Œ„Š7(#5) 1. D¨Œ„Š7 F‹7 GŒ„Š7 #œ #œ nœ œ œ œ n˙ œ bœ bœ œ œ 5 6 bœ œ œ 58 ≈ &8 8 7 A¨Œ„Š7(#5) 1.2. 11 B¨Œ„Š7 & 14 œ 4 &4 œ E¨‹7 bœ ˙ & ™™bœ ™ E¨‹7 18 22 & C©‹7 œ™ œ œ œ ∑ bœ EŒ„Š7 œ œ D‹7 œ bœ œ ∑ D‹7 œ œ ˙ œ ˙™ J 6 8 GŒ„Š7 #˙ ™ DŒ„Š7 D¨‹7 F9 D¨‹7 bw C‹7 œ œ 58 C‹7 ™™ ∑ 44 C‹7 ∑ œ œ bœ bœ ˙ œ ˙™ œ œ œ œ™ #œ #œ ™ BŒ„Š7 58 ∑ G¨Œ„Š7(#5) ∑ C‹7 w ™™ w Solos en A (6/8) y B , al terminar intro 11 The Aspect This is the third tune, and the first one composed in the format that I’m using right now which is a quartet, that I composed this year here, the idea behind it, was to try to do a melody that could be easily sang in an odd time signature. That’s why I used the 11/8 time signature grouping it two groups, one of 5/8 and other of 6/8 making a very smooth intro with the guitar using parallel chords, which are part of two different melodic minor scales. Those are F melodic minor and Eb melodic minor (the rhythmic pattern is not written, but you can see the division for reading purposes Then following that time signature (5+6) in a tonada-sort of mood with the drums. I proceed to play the melody, which is two measures motif, which is varied during the A part 12 In order to make a contrast and not abuse of the odd pattern too much, the B part is in 4/4, for that I created a descending motive using minor chords, to have a relation between the A and the B part, I use the eight note as a reference for the clic. So that gives a reference point, ant the change of time signatures wouldn’t sound to violent, this part also have an intro in where the piano play de descending cadence, that it would be played once The Solos are divided in part A in 6/8, and the B in 4/4, that makes more easily to face the chord changes 13 BAND FORMAT LEMURIA Lemuria q = 125 bbœœœ œœœj œ ™™ # œ j œ j # œ n œ œ b œ œ 6 # œ ‰ œ Œ ‰ # œ ‰ ‰ bœ œ ™ #œ #œ & ™™8 # œ ˙ œ œ œ œJ œ ™ œ ˙ œ ˙ 5 bbœœœ ##œœœ ‰ #œj œ œ Œ ‰ #œj #œ #œ ‰ bbnœœœ œœœ ™™™ ‰ bœ bœ œ ™™ # & ˙ œ œ œ œJ Œ ™ nœ ˙ œ ˙ 9 j j b œœ ™™ #œj ‰ #œ # œ #œ #œ #œ bœ ™ bœœœ ™™™ ‰ # œ ‰ bœ bœ nœ ™ ™ ™ # œ # œ & ˙ œ œ Œ œ œ n˙ œ ˙™ œj #œ ‰ #œ #œ & ˙ Œ œ œ #œ œ J J bbœœœ œ bœ œ bœ œ b œ bœ ‰̇ œ ˙™ b˙ #œj #œ ‰ # œ & n˙ ™ nœ œj #œ ˙™ nœ bb œœ bœ ‰ ˙ 13 17 œj #œ œ bœ bœ œ œ b˙ ˙™ œ œ œ œ #œ œ ‰ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ ˙ ‰ œ œ & n˙ ™ œ n˙ ™ œ ˙™ ˙™ œ 21 1. 2. œ œ œ ‰ ‰ œ œ ˙™ ˙™ œ œ 29 #œœœ œœœ ™™™ #œœ ‰̇ ‰œ & œ œ œ 25 & #œœ & # œœ 33 ‰ œ œ œ ˙ Œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œœ ™™™ œœ ‰ #œ #œ œ ˙ œ ‰̇ #œœ Œ œ ˙˙˙ ™™™ n˙ ™ ™™ ˙˙˙ ™™™ ˙™ œœ œ œœ ™™™ œ™ œ œ œ #œœ ‰œ œœ ™™ œ ‰ #œ #œ œ ˙ Œ œ ‰ #œ #œ œ ˙ 14 œj œ œ œ #œ ‰̇ œ #œ & œ ˙ œj œ 41 œœ œœ ™™™ œœ ‰̇ œ œ & œ œ œ ˙ 45 œj œ œ œ œ œ J & ‰̇ œ 2 37 j bœ œ œ œ & b‰˙ œ œ 49 œ œ œ & ‰˙™ œ œ 53 œ œ œj œ œj # œ œ # œ œj œ #œ œ œ ˙™ œj œ œj œ œœ ™™™ œœ œ œ œ œ ˙ j œ œ œ œ œj œ œ œ œ ˙™ œj œ œ œ œ œ™ œ œ œ™ œJ œ œj ‰ œ #˙ œ ‰̇ œœ œ œ œ œ bœ œ J œ ‰ œ ˙ ‰ œ ˙ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ #œ œ ‰ œ œ n˙ ™ ˙™ œ œ ˙ ˙™ ˙˙ ™™ ˙˙ ™™ ˙™ ˙™ ™ n˙ ˙™ 61 œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ™ œ ‰ œ œ #œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ & ˙™ œ n˙ ™ ˙ œ ˙™ œ 57 & ‰ œ œ œ œ œ ˙™ œœ & ‰ œ ˙ 65 œœ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ œœœ ˙ ‰ œ œ #œ œ œ ˙™ œœ œ j j j ‰ #œ #œ #œ ‰ #œ # œ #œ #œ #œ #œ & ˙ œ ˙™ bœ 74 œ œ #œ œ bbœœœ ‰̇ œœ œ b œ J & J œ 69 nœœ ‰ œ b œ b œ œ œ b˙ b &b œ bœ ˙ ˙™ 79 ‰ œ œ ‰ œœœ ˙ œœ œ ‰ œ œ b œœ ™™ œ ™ bœ ™ bœœ ™™ ‰ bœ bœ nœ ™ ˙ œœ Œ œ œ b œ bœ ˙™ b˙ j ‰ nœ #œ #œ #œ n˙ ™ œœj œ ‰ ˙˙˙ ˙™ ‰ œ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ #œ œ ˙˙ ™™™ œ ˙ œ ˙™ ˙™ n˙ ™ j ‰ #œ #œ œ #œ Œ ˙ œj #œ œj #œ ˙™ ˙˙ ™™™ ˙ ˙™ Since the first days as a musician, the people involved in this profession have the opportunity to face different band formats that is a very good form of expand their sonorities and also presents a new challenge because every format have its difficulties 15 and advantages. Here this year I wanted to experiment with the solo format, which is a very difficult in my opinion, because you have to deal with the fact that you don’t have any other instrument to support you, and also you have to be aware of taking care of the harmony at the same time that the melody. With Lemuria I wanted to make that happen in a way that can be easy to listen having the liberty of play complex things making a melody that would be easy to play doing the chords and the same time, but if I wasn’t able to do that, still give the sensation that I was playing in a desirable chord. This song is played in a style called “Tonada” which is one of the styles that evolved in Latin America from the 6/8, 3/4 patterns that came from the north of Africa via Spain. That’s why I wrote the melody in 6/8, but I wrote it as it where in 3/4. The idea of the chords was to try to make chords that share notes in common but don’t have any harmonic relationship For example in this passage the chords are Bmaj7 and Cmin7, those chords although don’t have an harmonic relationship they share two notes, B# (Eb) and A# (Bb) that gives a very interesting way of playing with different scales and making a relation amongst them, also the song has a lot of modal interchanges, as you can see in the “A” part. (From measure 9 to 28) The B part is more tonal, until the measure 44, which has a chromatic movement with maj7 chords and minor chords The structure is AABA 16 CHAPTER 5 (MODES) 17 The Idea In my years as a student of Berklee Boston, I started to get interested in microtonal scales. I took 4 semesters with Dave Fiuczinski, in which he taught me the basic stuff of the quartertones and microtonalism. When I arrived here, being in contact with musicians that are used to that way of playing music, such as the people from arab countries, made me realize that is not only a matter of playing the notes, but also to situating them in a context, which set a double task, because learning the scales was only the first step to play this kind of music. In well-tempered music the system of playing is led by the harmony, which makes that the melody has to be subdued by it, that makes a circular approach to the music, because the idea is to play different chords and finish the part with a chord that permits to go back to the first chord again. But in the microtonal music, the way of approach the music is a linear one, in where the capacity of doing melodic development using scales with microtones is more important than playing chord changes. Afro Blue was a perfect tune to develop those concepts (circular and linear), because while the head have chord changes, the solo was played in a pedal in F minor To play this song I used a fretless guitar tuned like an Oud (F, C, G, D, A, F), this instrument was tuned in that way specifically because it permits to play the instrument in the first position, which helps to play with open strings, the scales that I used to play the solo were Arabic Maqams in F, which are scales that the particularity with them, is that you to play the scales you have to play going up in one way, and going down in other way, this is interesting, because the microtones are played as a way of add color rather to work as a note itself (you don’t end with those notes, but you only PASS through them The pictures that you are going to see now are going to help you to clarify the point showed above 18 (Pictures of the scales taken from the website alsiadi.com (the aleppian school of music) 19 Conclusions Following this study, my conclusion is that in order to be creative, an artist has to do two things, which are to live in an ambient that enhances the creative work, and to try to learn about other areas of knowledge, that is because the art is an answer from the author to the time and place in where he or she is living in. The activity of learning new areas of knowledge is only going to help to broad horizons and understand better about other aspects and points of view about the same questions or statements that the author is trying to portray in its works. That only helps to improve the bond that the person tries to make between he or she and the people who is going to be exposed to the work, only because he or she is going to be more aware about what is happening around them. My objective now is to try to search for knowledge in different areas both logical and spiritual, so I can reach a better level of awareness and understanding of the world and period of time that I’m living in. Helping to fortify the bond between myself, and all the elements surrounding me. 20